Boston’s “Footloose”-like campaign to stamp out unlicensed dancing has meant suspensions of up to a week for hapless nightspots that fail to curtail the hoofing — while clubs whose out-of-control guests staged wild melees, stabbings and even gunplay often get away with slaps on the wrist, a Herald review found.

“It seems kind of ridiculous. They’ve got to have some sort of balance,” said a 25-year-old Boston man who was smashed with a bottle in 2010 at the Lansdowne Street Pub, and asked that his name not be used. “In my case, a couple weeks after me, a kid got killed in the same place. There’s no reason to be shutting down places where nobody is getting hurt.”

Among the light penalties handed out for violence by the city’s licensing division:

• A one-day suspension for Caprice Lounge on Tremont Street after two 2010 brawls, including a stabbing. The venue received warnings or probation for other brawls, including an assault on several cops.

• The Lansdowne Street Pub received warnings and probation for brawls in 2009 and 2010 that severely injured two men. In August 2010, after Michael DiMaria, 23, of New York was killed by shards of glass from a bottle tossed during a fight, the pub was put on probation, records show.

• â€‰Jose McIntyre’s in Faneuil Hall saw its license suspended for one day after a 2009 “knife fight” with three arrests. The club received warnings for melees in 2008 and 2009, including one that required 10 cops to break up, records show.

• â€‰And when a patron was shot at Dorchester’s Dublin House in July 2011, the board placed the matter “on file.” City Licensing Director Patricia Malone said no one testified at her hearing, leaving her powerless to act. “I do everything on a case-by-case basis,” Malone said about the penalties for violent incidents. She has dropped the hammer on occasion, such as when troubled Theatre District club Venu saw its license pulled for 29 days after four clubgoers were shot there in December 2011.

By contrast, the city’s 24 “dancing” citations issued at 18 different nightspots since 2010 include:

• â€‰A three-day suspension in August 2011 for the Leather District hot spot Splash, cited at least four times in the past two years.

• â€‰Five days for Norvia’s Place in Roxbury in August.

• Two days for The Greatest Bar near Boston Garden, for people dancing on the third floor. The club was only licensed for first-floor dancing.

• One day for Sidebar on Bromfield Street, where cops saw a woman dancing in the window.

• â€‰â€‰Seven days for Mantra on Temple Place for a late-night dance party in December that included a couple “simulating sexual intercourse,” police said. Authorities cited past violations, including unlicensed dancing, illegal “lap dances” and overcrowding.

Malone insists the city isn’t opposed to dancing but wants venues to heed their licenses, issued to protect neighborhood concerns.

“Nine out of 10 times I give a warning,” she said. “But there has to be some kind of enforcement and compliance with the rules.”

At some venues, dancing is allowed only on certain nights. T’s Pub in Brighton lost its license for a day because patrons were dancing at a karaoke night on a Tuesday. Its license only allowed dancing Thursday through Sunday.

“We have to take a step back and see what’s in the public good,” said T’s Pub attorney Robert Allen. “If these rules are so strict that a business can’t conduct business, is that what we really want in a city?”